The Iditarod Tail Invitational started on Sunday 2-26-12 at about 5:30pm MPLS time.  These are the early leaders and one of them will likely be the winner.


It is snowing a bunch meaning anything can happen.  None of the following will likely happen but a minor variation of all likely will.  A leader may get in  front of the snow storms and cruise on good trial to the finish.  The leaders may get caught in the deep new snow and then get caught by the others.  Everyone may push their bike 350 miles or camp out until spring.  Fat bikes are not snow shoes and you need a surface about as firm as it would take to walk without punching through.  The majority of the trail is much more thin than these early pics show.  If you happen to steer off of the narrow poorly defined path that has been packed by snow machines and bikes you will plummet waist deep in snow and have to crawl back out and up onto the trail to start again.  This is easy when minds and bodies are fresh and it is daytime.  They call it auguring in when you fall off the trail and find yourself laying on your side half buried in the soft edge snow.  Surprisingly hard to get out of this position.